Notebook on Cities and Culture S1E15: Your Own Pimp and Your Own Whore with Molly McAleer

Colin Marshall walks through Larchmont with Molly McAleer, co-founder of HelloGiggles and writer for CBS’ Two Broke Girls. They discuss the definition of internet fame, especially when one’s internet debut comes in a photo funneling a beer; whether moving to Los Angeles after graduating from the disappointingly party-free Boston College counts as a betrayal of Boston; her avoidance of the label “humorist,” and thus any association with Mark Twain; her time at Defamer, which gave her a “magical” view of Los Angeles, and what she’d say to those who accuse it and every other Gawker site of hastening the decline of western civilization; joining Two Broke Girls at the height of the Whitney Cummings boom; Koreatown, her point of entry into Los Angeles after having lived in a frat house with 32 dudes; aging a thousand years after spending six in Los Angeles; how much of a discount on nail polish counts as a deep discount on nail polish; her struggle to be as popular with her friends as her mom; the resurgence of press-on nails; experiencing utter brokeness in Los Angeles, and getting banned from using Google ads when those friends tried to help her out; cookies aside, the reduced presence of the Girl Scouts, except in cases of high-profile transsexual trouble; her resistance to driving, and her feeling that some people are meant to drive, while others are meant to be driven; the basic tasks of life that somehow never get taught; manicures as the last bastion of personal maintenance; and how hard it is to avoid humblebragging when The Wonder Years‘ Fred Savage directs your script.

Download the interview from Notebook on Cities and Culture’s feed here or on iTunes here.